WASHINGTON — President Trump ordered Somali refugees living in Minnesota to go back to Africa. Most of these Somalis have intensely black complexions. Trump’s order was the latest in his white supremist initiatives against darkskin people. These Somalis, about 700, have been in the United States after fleeing a savage civil war in their native country.  They have had protected status under U.S. immigration law since the 1990s. Trump’s pretext to deport was overdrawn:

“Somali gangs are terrorizing the people. Send them back to where they came from. It’s over”

It was pure Trump excessiveness to address a problem: Yes, Somali gangs are a Minnesota problem, mostly in the Twin Cities and Rochester, but contrary to Trump’s overextrapolation, not all Somalis are prone to violence. Far from it. His reasoning is  as illogical as throwing out the baby with the bath water. Put another way: It’s as horrific as Trump’s solution for dandruff being decapitation. In a further leapfrog in logic, Trump tried to tie his anti-Somali decision to claims of fraud in Minnesota state government. He called the state “a hub of fraudulent money laundering” for which he blamed Democratic Governor Walz, who has won Trump’s animism for calling out the President’s lack of logical acuity. Trump failed to close his logic gap on a Walz-fraud-Somali link.

Somali status

About 700 Somalis are in Minnesota under “temporary protected status” in U.S. immigration law. The status is for eligible foreign nationals from certain countries experiencing conditions that make it unsafe for them to return. Somalis were first granted the protected status 35 years ago because their lives were in danger in their native country. The protected status under U.S. law has been extended multiple times. The next renewal isin March, which has given Trump a procedural opportunity to deport Somalis.

Somali demographics

The 2020 census found 87,000 Somalis have resettled in Minnesota. This is the largest Somal cohort in the nation, partly because of the state’s welcoming public policy that offers impoverished people a leg up in starting a new life. About 700 Minnesota Somalis have protected immigration status for humanitarian reasons. Somalis have been coming to Minnesota as refugees since the 1991.